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Friday, 27 March 2015

"I am a blogger" - this statement used to fill me with curiosity, questioning why said person thought they were so interesting that they needed to write about it. Now, this statement fills me with dread.
I guess that's why I try and blog/write more about "feelings, nothing more than feelings" and marriage and life etc - though you may have seen my Laborie review and post on WaterkloofTo make things clear, I don't believe blogging is just used for people with Wordpress or Blogger, I think it's also for people with websites that they update on a frequent level with posts pertaining to themselves and their likes. (I hope that makes sense).

Going back to why bloggers scare me a little - haven't we all seen a bit of a shift in the way bloggers behave these days...the way consumers behave has shifted dramatically and we basically all think we're entitled to the very best of everything. How many times have I gone out to a restaurant and been overtly critical because it now feels like the norm. I have to mentally slap myself or get Mr H to do it for me.

This new trend of needing the best and getting it for free has spawned the term "Blegging" - to beg and blog. Or blog to beg. Or beg so you can blog.

Here are my top tips on how to Bleg successfully. Now go forth and annoy the hell out of everyone.

1) Start a blog - let's use food as the example - get a huge following by doing some giveaways and write some decent fluffy pieces. Then get out and eat. But when you eat, document each moment and critique it as if you have a Michelin Star to give - and if it's bad, make this fact known - be thoroughly disagreeable and make sure you get a free meal out it.
It's best if you never paid in the first place.

2) Be rude to PRs. I once listened to a conversation between two bloggers who were bemoaning one of my favorite PR companies and calling them stupid because they had the audacity to send them an invite for an event in the week when obviously they are working. I've heard bleggers demand that they get a weekend time instead and write quite nasty emails/pieces if they don't.
Alternatively, suck up to PRs because they hold the key to your freebies. There are many companies out there that will burn your name off their list if you say one negative thing. "Gosh it's a little warm today at this event" - people have died for less!

3) Heard about an amazing event but didn't make the guest list...this is when you get emailing. Be diligent, be ruthless - don't stop emailing the PR company until you get invited. You're special damn it.
And when that invite does get sent to you because you threatened to kidnap their cat, turn up to the event, moan about everything and then leave early. They should have invited you in the first place.

4) Demand to bring a friend or partner with you EVERYWHERE (even day time events) even if they add nothing to the event. It's important to try every item off the menu so if you bring someone with, you don't look like a total glutton.

5) There is no such thing as shame, so if you got a freebie from a restaurant/winery/shop tweet about it until your fingers are so numb you can barely hold your phone anymore. (disclaimer - I do tweet about events and reviews I get offered but you might have seen that I am sometimes too honest for my own good. one day I will get fired. Or killed)

Truthfully, I receive a lot of freebies but that's more because of my job and position and I do tweet about them ESPECIALLY when it's absolutely awesome or when I know that the PR and the winery put a lot of effort into the media drop or the event.
I also get a lot of free press releases sent to me on events with the opening line "it would be so good if you would share this with your readership" and honestly I get so sick of it that I have started emailing back asking them to either take out a Sponsored article or send me tickets coz doing work for free ain't making anyone's day. Maybe I'm now a Blegger...I think it's actually quite a fine line.

What are your thoughts on the matter? I don't think you'll ever see Paid-for-content on this blog because a) I'm too weird and brutal for that b) I think the only fitting advert would be for anger management

Wednesday, 18 March 2015

1) They are celebrating 10 years of wine making and they are a certified bio-dynamic wine farm which means that they work to
create a diverse, balanced ecosystem that generates health and fertility
as much as possible from within the farm itself. Everything has a purpose and there is a continual circle of life with everything giving to each other that makes this such an exciting winery.

2) They plough their fields using Draft horses. No nasty tractors, carbon emissions or noisey machine. Just the slow methodical plod of nature's finest. Isn't he a beauty!

Photo not my own

3) This is the view from their cellar...so you can imagine the view from the tasting and restaurant which is above it. Sit for a wine tasting and for R40 you can pair wines with the best cheddar in SA, Healeys Cheddar. It's super yum.

4) Their restaurant has some wickedly delicious food thanks to French chef Gregory Czarnecki and he's forever pushing himself, concocting fabulously intricate and inspired dishes. He's all for local and in season produce and when I was there last, there was a suspicious lack of rabbits..."Oh they became chef's terrine". Lovely. And it really was. Sorry bunny.

5) They make an incredibly good Cinsaut which I was previously adverse to (must have been the company I was with) because tasting it this week, I have promptly ordered a case and will be very loathe to share it....sorry Mr H.
This wine has peppery, savory notes with aromas of fynbos, wild mornings and moments when the wind catches your hair.

Monday, 9 March 2015

I'm a woman of many needs - I need good food. I need good wine. I need a soft bed. I need all of these three things in the same place. Laborie in Paarl meets my needs and then adds in awesome staff like a craft beer bar, live music and killer views. It sorts you out one time.

Invited to stay over at the winery to enjoy the full Laborie experience, I took fellow blogger Amy Brown (from Tea With Mrs Bee) and spent the night; a girly Friday retreat away from the men folk.

Before we even got to our rooms, we started our weekend with a bubbly tasting and I have always been a fan of the Laborie Blanc de Blanc which is an award-winner and made completely of Chardonnay grapes so it has yummy yeasty/brioche notes. The other two bubblies on the list were the Brut and the Brut rose. I think all days should begin with bubbles, it's such a great mood booster.
Lunchtime beckoned and we headed to Harvest, Laborie's main restaurant that has a deck underneath sweeping oak trees. To soak up some of the bubbles, we both ordered a starter and a main.

Tempura Prawns and Avocado - delicious

Beef Carpaccio

Feeling ridiculously full, we decided that lazing by the pool was the only viable option. We checked into our room and donned our bikinis (a considerable amount of sucking in one's stomach was required after so much food).

The rooms are classic, elegant and understated and well stocked with wine. I judge a room by a) how many plug points it has, b) how good the shower is c) how comfy the beds and bedding is - I was not disappointed at all.

The sun began to creep away and we started to feel peckish again. This time we went to eat at Taste, the new Tapas restaurant on the terrace, just off of Laborie's tasting room. It's a fairly new renovation and has already become a firm favourite for locals. Every Friday they have live music and I adore picking a large amount of different items of a menu to share (or not to, I like my food).

Tempura Hake - absolutely divine

Chorizo and calamari

After dinner drinks happened at Bar di Bar - the new craft beer spot which oozes cool. Mr H is an avid craft beer drinker (and brewer) and so Laborie works for us both and I get my bubbly and he gets his brew, bru.

After so much food and wine, we staggered to our beds and collapsed into happy oblivion.
I'm planning to head back before Summer is over and treat the hubby - you could say that I am now obsessed with Laborie.

I still get wowed by Alexander McQueen's work. He was one designer who really understood the measure of a women and the way in which we ...

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